Hi All
Was cooking tea this evening and saw this land on our fence, thought it was one of our usual pigeons at first, then realised it was'nt. i'm not very good at identifying birds so can anyone tell me what it is please, is it at buzzard or a hawk ? It then landed in next door's garden, I ran outside with my camera and stood on a patio chair to see it again, but it flew off.
My husband thinks I'm great at multi tasking, pan in one hand ,camera in the other (he he ! )
Thanks in advance everyone
Linda
What a wonderful world :))
I love the pictures of your Female Sparrowhawk, Linda
The Magpie in the background is certainly eyeing the whole situation up or maybe he knows the score if he gets too close.
Regards
Kathy and Dave
Hi everyone
Thank you all for identifying the Female Sparrowhawk for me. It was really exciting to see it, but I hope it does'nt take any of my visiting birds ! I will keep a look out for it tomorrow and maybe get another pic.
I can see your photo now Linda - several times LOL!!! Great shot, I look forward to hearing if she returns today.
The necessity of bird-watching is a really good reason for avoiding all forms of housework.
The dust will still be there tomorrow - the birds may not be!
Ditto Squirrel. Lovely photograph Linda.
A bit of teatime excitement for you there Linda!
Its funny how the Magpie is keeping a close eye on that female Sparrowhawk.
You'll have to let us know if she comes back :o)
S B said: Hi All Was cooking tea this evening and saw this land on our fence, thought it was one of our usual pigeons at first, then realised it was'nt. i'm not very good at identifying birds so can anyone tell me what it is please, is it at buzzard or a hawk ? It then landed in next door's garden, I ran outside with my camera and stood on a patio chair to see it again, but it flew off. My husband thinks I'm great at multi tasking, pan in one hand ,camera in the other (he he ! ) Thanks in advance everyone Linda
Hi Linda
Great photograph! Hope your small birds keep a sharp watch out now. Seeing the Magpie in the background reminded me of the dramatic amateur video footage shown on Autumnwatch last year. Did you see it of the Sparrowhawk drowning the poor Magpie? Chilling to say the least , as it seemed that the Sparrowhawk had actually thought it out! Hitchcock would have loved it!
Photo here is of our Sparrowhawk - it's a bit fuzzy I'm afraid as it was taken through the conservatory window and at full zoom and then enlarged - but it gives you an idea! Apparently the Females and Juveniles are a different colour to the males ... so some appear brown and others grey, however, it's the ribbing on the front that's one of the key identification marks - along with the yellow eyes. Lastly - if you get a chance - have a look at the back of it's head. The feathers are amazing. It's looks like almost like another pair of eyes looking back at you!!! (See my second photo). Talk about having eyes in the back of your head ......... the Sparrowhawk has!!! ;-o)
As a footnote to this ....
Sadly, I found a dying one last Summer in the field at the back of us ... It was flapping around on the ground and it was obviously in distress. It tragically died whilst I was on the phone to the Vet asking for advice on what to do. Because it is a protected species, I had to send it off to the RSPB for a post mortum. It turned out it was a juvenile - who died as a result of malnutrition, poor thing. According to the RSPB - many juveniles do die before adulthood as they don't have a very successful strike rate. Sad. But that's nature for you. However, on the plus side we do still have a male and female sparrowhawk resident here.
Best wishes
DD
it's the
Hi DD Rhydowen,
like your Sparrowhawk photos! What's going on with her tail though? Fighting or molting?
That's such a shame about the juvenile Sparrowhawk, nature can be cruel at times! That's one give away with a juvenile I find and that's their success rate.
But then again, our female seems to have given up on birds and opted for the mice! A male had a go too, but I don't think he could catch a cold let alone prey!
Hi ilovebirds
you have a fine looking female sparrowhawk there, well spotted.
Hey farmer, farmer, put away the D.D.T now. Give me spots on my apples, but leave me the birds and the bees, please!
Unknown said: Hi DD Rhydowen That's a great picture of your sparrowhawk, and yes it does look like it has got eyes in the back of it's head does'nt it. I must have missed Autumn Watch that day as I did not see the footage of the sparrowhawk drowning the poor magpie. That's very interesting though as our garden backs onto the canal, and you can't see it in the picture, but just below the magpie is the canal, so maybe this sparrowhawk was thinking of doing the same thing ! That's very sad about the one you found dying, I don't know which is worse, one dying of malnutrition or seeing them take garden birds. Last year I saw a baby duckling taken away, it was awful I could hear it quacking as the hawk took it away. Best wishes to you too, and thank you to everyone who has commented on my pic. Linda Hi All Was cooking tea this evening and saw this land on our fence, thought it was one of our usual pigeons at first, then realised it was'nt. i'm not very good at identifying birds so can anyone tell me what it is please, is it at buzzard or a hawk ? It then landed in next door's garden, I ran outside with my camera and stood on a patio chair to see it again, but it flew off. My husband thinks I'm great at multi tasking, pan in one hand ,camera in the other (he he ! ) Thanks in advance everyone Linda
Hi DD Rhydowen
That's a great picture of your sparrowhawk, and yes it does look like it has got eyes in the back of it's head does'nt it. I must have missed Autumn Watch that day as I did not see the footage of the sparrowhawk drowning the poor magpie. That's very interesting though as our garden backs onto the canal, and you can't see it in the picture, but just below the magpie is the canal, so maybe this sparrowhawk was thinking of doing the same thing !
That's very sad about the one you found dying, I don't know which is worse, one dying of malnutrition or seeing them take garden birds. Last year I saw a baby duckling taken away, it was awful I could hear it quacking as the hawk took it away.
Best wishes to you too, and thank you to everyone who has commented on my pic.